BEAUTIFUL
by Nami Mon'Ami
Summary: Wonder what Mother Nature wants to teach Misaki? Why is Usui more interested in watching the sky today? Why exactly is Misaki getting disturbed to see Usui more engrossed in watching the sky instead of teasing her?
1. Chapter 1

BEAUTIFUL

She ran up the steps to the roof. She has completed her Student Council work early today and if she made enough haste she might be there in time to see the sunset. It was the most beautiful time of the day. A transition from day to night takes place with the sky playing with a plethora of colours- from mysterious violet to fiery red, from calming blue to generous yellow and with the occasional cloud bringing in that wild splash of gold. It was that mystical time when the world seems suspended between day and night. She opened the door to the roof and nearly groaned aloud. That Outer-space Alien was currently occupying the roof. Yes, there was enough space for the said roof to accommodate her as well but she was not going to underestimate the powers of the said Alien. She almost backed out when she was caught transfixed by the sight of him. He staring at the sky, almost without blinking, as if there was tomorrow's Mathematics test question paper printed on the sky. Usually he would always detect her, with the help of his strange powers of course, whenever she was within fifty miles of his radius and wouldn't let her pass without an embarrassing comment or a know-it-all smirk or a piercing look thrown her way. How come he still hasn't said anything to her yet? Didn't he know that she was here? Her curiosity piqued, she walked towards him.

"What are you staring at, idiot?"

He turned his head towards her almost in slow motion as if he just realized she was standing there for the past one minute and was talking to him, which maybe he had.

"Huh?"

"I asked what are you staring at?"

He just smiled in that annoying way of his and said, "Hey, beautiful. Welcome to the roof."

She blushed at his comment.

"Don't call me that. I am not Beautiful." she snapped.

He just smiled at her and turned towards to the sky.

"And to answer your question, I was taking a class."

_I was taking a class?_

"What?", she asked, confused.

"I was taking a class when you politely decided to interrupt the lesson."

She felt the tiny tick of annoyance flare in her.

"Yeah? And who, pray may I know, was teaching?" she said in her most sarcastic voice.

"Mother Nature."

"Oh, I see. May I also enroll?" If only sarcasm could kill, world would be a much better place.

"Sure. Any time, Prez."

"I am glad to know that. And what are subjects she will be teaching?"

"All."

"Great."

She could see that he was trying very hard not to laugh.

"Come on. Let me give one demonstration." He pulled her to the railings. She quickly took her hands out of his loose grasp. He gave her a tiny smirk as if to say he acknowledged her action.

"Now Prez, look at the sky and tell me what do you see."

"A setting sun."

"Very good. And now look to your left and tell me what do you see."

"Our school's Administrative Block."

"What is common between them?"

"Common? There's nothing common between them." She frowned.

"Change. Change is what is common between them. Change takes place in both of them with respect to time."

She stared at him. He smiled.

"Now tell me what is the difference between them."

"One has fire in it and the other, thankfully, hasn't."

"The rate of change." he said, his voice soft.

She looked up to see him.

"The rate of change taking place in them is different. One takes 12 hours and the other, years. The sun you saw couple of hours ago does not appear the same now and the building you are seeing now will not remain same a couple of years from now."

She stared at him speechless.

"And what it is that Mother Nature is trying to teach us?"

"What?"

"Frame of reference."

"Huh?"

"Frame of reference. With respect to the sun, the time seems to fly away, and with respect to the building, the time seems to move so slowly, doesn't it?"

"Yes."

"And finally, what do we learn from it all?"

"What do we learn?" she asked, breaking out of her monosyllabic trance.

"That it all depends on our perspective. Everything. The things that we see everyday may or may not appear same to everyone."

"I never saw things that way before." she said, wonder plain in her voice.

"Precisely."

He took her chin between his forefinger and thumb and tipped her head. He leaned in and said in his husky voice, "You don't see the beauty that I see in you. Therefore, you are forbidden to contradict me when I appreciate your beauty in future. Ever."

He lightly pressed his lips to hers before releasing her. He smiled at her stupefied expression and lightly chucked her under the chin.

"See ya, beautiful!" he said and walked towards the door. He glanced back and saw her standing exactly where he left her. He chuckled to himself.

"Mother Nature is a wonderful teacher."


	2. Chapter 2

BEAUTIFUL

Chapter 2

Today again , Misaki hurried off to the terrace. She has completed her Student Council work early for two consecutive days in a row now, and if she made enough haste she might be there in time to see the sunset. She reached the door and paused. She opened the door cautiously, making sure it doesn't creak. She gave herself an 'All-clear' nod and went to the railings. She leaned against them and stared at the sky. It was the most beautiful time of the day. Or that is what she used to think twenty-four hours ago. Now though, she wasn't that sure. Yes for her, twilight always seemed to be a magical time with the sky displaying a riot of colours. But that is not how everyone views it. For some, it is the approach of darkness, suction of all light. Until yesterday, she never paused to see a different side of things. But today, she was extra sensitive, asking questions that made people think, her English teacher, too, praised her for her insightful views. All thanks to Mother Nature. And, maybe yes, she owes a little thanks to a certain blonde. And she had successfully managed to avoid that said blond all day. It was an applaud-able feat, to say the least, considering that said blonde's ultra-supernatural powers! Why, she has even congratulated herself at least a sixty times today! She smiled at her super-sneaky ways that managed to outmatch the Outer-space Alien.

She looked at the building to her left. He stalks her day and night. Everywhere. He stalks her at school. He stalks her to the cafe. And he even stalks her to her home. Some of the girls would sell their souls, and there's only a molecule of exaggeration in this, to get a little attention from him. And she so easily disregards him; ignores him when possible; shouts at him, when not possible; bashes his head on the nearest sizeable object when all the above doesn't work. The list of her atrocities seems to be endless. And it would be no exaggeration at all to say that she's upset by this new development. She frowned. Her mouth curved downwards. Shouldn't she value what she gets even if that is not what thinks she wants because what she gets is valued by all except her?

"Don't worry your brain too much, Prez." Two hands came to lean on the railing on either side of her, effectively trapping her in the process.

"It might resign, you know."

"Shut up, id- " She broke off, unable to continue. Her face took a faint pinkish tinge.

"What's up, Prez? Can't seem to say 'idiot', huh?"

"Please move back."

He turned her towards him. "_Please? _What did you do to my favourite maid?"

She avoided his eyes. "Listen, I'm sorry for, umm… everything, okay?"

He so abruptly turned her around that she almost lost her balance and fell, if not for his steadying hands.

"Mother Nature taught us yesterday about perspective, right? Today we are going to learn a new lesson."

"Usui, I really-"

"Now, tell me Misaki, what do you see up there?" He continued as if she had never interrupted.

"I am telling you, I don't- "

He leaned in closer to whisper in her ear. A shiver passed down her spine. "Mother Nature doesn't like disobedient students, Misa. I suggest you better pay attention or else face the" He lightly bit her ear. Her breath hitched. "Consequences."

He waited for a while for Misaki to get her breathing back to normal.

"So, as I was saying, Prez, what do you see up there?"

"The sky." Her breath still hadn't returned to normal yet, but she 'decided' to play along with him. The longer she's stuck with him, the larger is the possibility of her being admitted to the nearest lunatic asylum, after all.

"Very good." He stretched out his left palm and placed her left palm on top of his. She blushed. "And now look here and tell me what do you see."

"Our hands." Her voice barely above a whisper due to embarrassment.

"Now try to look at both of them simultaneously."

"Obviously, I can't. This is absurd." She frowned.

"And why do you think you can't?"

"Well, in case you failed to notice, you are holding our hands down and the sky, apparently, is not in the mood to come down."

"Yes Prez, you cannot look at both of them at the same time. It is the rule of nature."

"What?"

"Frame of reference. You can only take one object at a time under consideration."

"Yes, but you already told that yesterday."

"Did I now?"

"Yes, you did."

"Then you know that Mother Nature teaches us, above all, to be able to see things in a perspective other than our own, right?"

She nodded.

"We maybe able to see things by standing in others' shoes for a while, to understand what made them say things or do things that they say or do. This is a temporary arrangement. We do this to imbibe the best of the best qualities of them in us. At the end of the day we must get back to wearing our own shoes."

She turned towards him. She was speechless as she stared at his solemn features; no humour lurked in his eyes, now.

"And finally, what do we learn from it all?"

"What?" She couldn't hide the curiosity from her voice.

"That while being aware of others' perspectives, we must never lose ours if we believe them to be right." He smiled at her.

She looked down at her hands. "I really like the dusk."

"And there are many who don't. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't enjoy what you like, Prez."

She looked up at him. She opened her mouth to reply but he placed his index finger on her lips. She blushed, her skin a deep red. Red appears to be a natural colour of her skin these days.

"And Prez, on the other hand, you should also give a little value to what others give value." He winked at her. "Me."

Her skin took on an even deeper hue of crimson, if that was possible. She felt hot and flustered, none of the feelings she liked to feel. She gathered all her scattered pieces of brain and tried to form a coherent reply. In the end however, she just huffed and stomped to the door.

"Yo Prez, Mother Nature hasn't given us permission to leave yet."

"Go to hell, freaking Outer-space Alien!"

He chuckled and followed her. She's back to being the normal Misaki Ayuzawa, the girl he loves.

"Mother Nature is a wonderful teacher."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

After a few thousand shouts, yells and glares, Misaki Ayuzawa, the Demon President of Seika High finally reached her locker at the end of another academic day. It was just like everyday. She shouts, she yells, she glares and she does her work, and this cycle repeats at least a half a dozen times as the day progresses. She was tired, tired and tired. Yet in about an hour she was expected at Maid Latte, for her part-time job. She sighed and opened her locker and stared at the two rolls wrapped in newspaper, that shouldn't have been there. Oh, had she forgot to mention that in her usual everyday life there's always an unusual element of surprise brought by a certain Mr. Emerald Eyes? It seems the two rolls wrapped in newspaper were her 'element of surprise' for today. How those two rolls actually got into her "locked" locker was not something she was going to think about. She took out the books she needed and put them in her bag and then carefully took out the rolls before shutting her locker close. She slung her bag over her shoulder and leaned against her locker. She unwrapped and untied the first one and found it was a chart-paper. She unrolled the chart-paper and then stared. It was exactly how the sky looked the day before yesterday. Done in soft pastels, the scene was of the sky at sunset as seen from top of the school roof. The colours vivid and yet inter-mixing. The violet, the red, the blue, the gold… every colour stood out as individuals and mingled as one to create the most beautiful sunset ever. At the bottom right corner of the chart-paper was written in an elegant yet striking script-

"_**Beautiful"**_

_**From your perspective.**_

She was smiling and she hadn't even realised it, and when she did, she checked it. She unwrapped and untied the second chart-paper with almost childlike eagerness and curiosity. She unrolled the chart-paper and this time she was beyond speechless. She was looking at herself. She was standing in the roof. The setting sun was lending a soft glow to her profile. Her hair was softly blowing in the wind. Her hands were loose on either side of her. Her cheeks were done in soft peach coloured pastels. She was blushing. And her lips were delicately parted as if voicing a million questions, yet saying nothing. Her eyes were the most striking feature of the entire piece. They had that faint shine that expressed interest and nervousness in equal measure. It was how she must have looked to someone who was standing at the railings. She looked so unlike the one she sees at the mirror everyday. She realised with a jolt of surprise that she looked beautiful. At the bottom right corner was written in the same elegant, striking handwriting-

"_**Beautiful"**_

_**From my perspective.**_

She slumped against the locker and slowly hit the floor with a dull thud. She looked at both the chart-papers and knew at once that no one else, apart from her, was going to see them for a long, long time.

A shadow fell over her. She looked up to see someone she would rather not see, especially now, flashing his famous crooked smile at her. He crouched down to her level and took the chart-papers from her hand. He wrapped and tied them into a roll and then handed them over to her, all the while his signature smirk pasted on his face.

"Need help finding your legs, Prez?"

She glared at him and moved to get up. Except that to her shock she found she couldn't. He has to move back in order to give her enough room to move.

"Move back." And to her everlasting embarrassment, her voice sounded breathless.

"What's the magic word?" He leaned towards her just an inch but it was enough to make her plastered to the locker. His smirk became more pointed. Her glare became more intense. If it were a normal situation, if he were a normal guy and if she were her normal self, she would have answered, "Abracadabra.", but with things as they are, she just said, "Please."

In the next moment she found herself clutching the front of his shirt with one hand and his forearm with another to steady her balance. In one swift, smooth movement he had righted her up because of which she lost her balance and ended up in the position she was currently in, as he'd known she would.

"The Demon President of Seika High sexually assaults a fellow student." He intoned in a deadpan voice as if reading from a newspaper article.

She snatched her hands away and punched him in the arm.

"Baka Usui!"

She took the paper rolls from him, clutched them to her chest and stomped off. He followed her.

They walked all the way to her home in companionable silence.

"Hey Prez, you never told me how you liked those?" He asked indicating the chart-papers she clutched to her chest.

"They were nice. Thank you." She looked down, blushing.

"I'm sure Mother Nature will soon have another lesson planned for us."

"I'm not interested in Mother Nature's lessons anymore."

"Oh, is that so? Then we'll find another teacher for you."

"I'm not interested in any subject or any teacher!" She frowned.

"Then what are you interested in?" He had brought his face close to hers.

She couldn't help but step back. He immediately took advantage of that fact and moved even closer.

"I'm interested in nothing." Her voice, surprisingly, had lowered itself to a barely-there level.

"Define 'nothing'." He brushed the length of her cheekbone with his fingertips.

She couldn't think much less talk. His proximity plus the warm trail his fingers left on her skin turned her brain to mush.

"Nothing is nothing." She half whispered, half breathed the words.

He appreciated her brave comeback but he was a born opportunist, so he leaned another inch and felt her breath hitch. She stepped back. She was now almost close to the door of her home. He has his stalking abilities to thank for the knowledge that he knew that the said door is open. If she took another step she'll meet the door and stumbling backwards, she'll fall flat on her back.

And in the next moment that is exactly what happened.

Her heart was hammering fast and loud against her chest. He was too close, way too close for comfort. His eyes were burning deep emerald. She stepped back and felt the door at her back swing open. Wide-eyed, she stumbled and felt herself suddenly being caught by a pair of hands. She was hanging in mid-air, supported just by his hands. His face was just inches close. She was breathless and she could feel his hot breath against her mouth. And being suspended in air was not doing her respiratory system any good. Suddenly he closed the few inches between their lips, placing his mouth over hers. She involuntarily closed her eyes, awakening the rest of her senses to full alert-mode. It was like none of the two kisses he gave her earlier. This was drugging, fierce but too gentle to be called aggressive. And she saw stars behind her eyelids. However he ended the kiss too soon. Her eyes were still closed when he straightened her. She slowly opened her eyes, as if waking up from a long dream. His eyes were still dark. He touched her cheek with the back of his hand. He stared at her for another moment before turning back and walking away though the door. She stood rooted to her spot. She felt like the world just moved about its axis without her realising it.

He paused on his way and turned towards her with his sensual smile gracing his lips.

"See ya, beautiful!" he waved toward a stunned Misaki, and turned to walk towards his own apartment, congratulating himself on another day gone well.


End file.
